Feds end 30-year-old research-grant program in favour of own plan

An almost 30-year-old federal funding program will come to an end following an announcement from Science and Sport Minister Kirsty Duncan Thursday morning, to be replaced by a new research-support fund.

Duncan is scheduled to make an announcement at 9 a.m. at Bayview Yards in Ottawa, alongside members of the Canada Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC). She will announce a new research-funding program that her office has confirmed will be called the New Frontiers in Research Fund, thus phasing out of the longstanding Networks of Centres of Excellence of Canada (NCE) program.

Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative government established the NCE in 1989 as a joint funding venture of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. It was introduced as a mechanism to fund university-based research centres that operated jointly with private sector companies.

The year it was founded, the NCE funded 15 networks with $240 million over four years. Mulroney’s successor, Kim Campbell, was skeptical about the performance of some programs that received funding and threatened to cut them drastically, before reconsidering. The NCE became a permanent fixture in 1997 under Jean Chrétien’s Liberals.

iPolitics was originally alerted to Thursday morning’s announcement by a source involved with an organization seeking renewed funding under the NCE. It was confirmed by Duncan’s office late Wednesday evening.

The existing NCE-funded networks, including those recently awarded grants, will continue to draw funding until their original end dates, the source said, and the science minister’s office confirmed. Certain networks deemed “NCE Classics” can apply for a three-year renewal. No further funding will be awarded through the NCE.

Craig MacBride, a spokesperson in Duncan’s office, referred to this as part of the “transition” to the new program.

As of 2017, NCE-funded networks and centres had created 147 spinoff companies and 1,332 startups, according to the organization itself. NCE-funded networks and centres also trained nearly 50,000 people. Today, according to a list on the NCE website, there are 36 active networks collecting more than $800 million in funding from the NCE. Since its founding, it’s invested $2 billion in research.

The budget for the New Frontiers in Research Funding is $275 million over the next five years and $65 million each year after.

When contacted by iPolitics on Wednesday, Jean Saint-Vil, NCE’s associate vice-president, refused to comment on the minister’s announcement or the organization.